Archive By Section - Columnists/Editorials

You know that old expression - it's time to pay the piper - well that is the case if your business is located in an unincorporated part of Bulloch County, and you haven't paid your Occupation Tax which was due on July 1.

As most of you know and remember, the decision to drop the atomic bomb not only ended World War II but created a global terror that has continued to escalate. I will never forget the times when I and my classmates went through safety drills to prepare us in case of a bomb actually being dropped on my elementary school. We all crouched under our desks and waited for the inevitable. We really weren't sure what would happen, but we saw newsreels of the destruction in Japan and the horrible results of radiation. If that weren't bad enough ...

The little town where Mama grew up was so small that, whenever there was a funeral, any child who wanted could leave school to attend. The church bell would ring and teachers would announce, "If you are attending the funeral today, you may leave now." Mama, whose career goal at age 10 or 12, was to be a "funeral home lady," never missed an opportunity to show respect, express condolences and observe the tricks of the trade.

This past Sunday, our choir sang a beautiful rendition of Psalm 139, and I was truly touched by its powerful words. While some may say it is a psalm of lament or sorrow, I want to say it is a psalm of great comfort.

I really can't help it, this thing I have about words. This fascination with their power, this wonder at their flexibility, this compulsion to string them together into necklaces of sound and rhythm that sway around my neck as I walk. The way they feel spilling out of my mouth, puffs and bursts of air shaped by throat and teeth and tongue. The way they look on a page, black lines and squiggles that stand at attention, but only barely so. There is nothing quite so magical as the read, the written, the spoken word.

We have been watching the construction at the Statesboro Mall for months now, anxiously awaiting the "new" Belk to open. According to Darrell Williams, manager of corporate communications for Belk, Inc., building is almost complete and a move-in date has been established.

I think it would be difficult to overstate the importance of setting a good example. If we have someone to follow in life who is willing to show us how to live, who understands the importance of doing the best job possible in everything, we have a much greater chance of being the best we can be of being what God wants us to be.

It was in the late summer of 1973 when a major change happened in the United States - and I'm not talking about Watergate. Prior to the "happening," gas prices were around 40 cents a gallon, a dozen eggs cost some 45 cents, the average salary was approximately 13,000 dollars a year, and a new house could run you $32,500. Then OPEC shut down its production and oil prices escalated 200 percent! Talk about overnight inflation!

Q: In your book on 2-year-olds, you recommend reading to a child from early on. My problem is that every time I attempt to read to my 16-month-old son he grabs the book away, closes it, or wants to flip the pages himself. If I try to take it back from him, the battle is on, one that I do not wish to engage in. I am an avid reader, and I had hoped to instill a love of reading in him as well. I certainly don't want to make reading an unpleasant experience for him. I'm sure ...